Construction Maison

When Amy Franklin, 30, bought her one-bedroom condominium in Arlington County’s Colonial Village seven years ago, she found the neighborhood’s pretty 1930s buildings and graceful expanses of lawn pleasingly familiar . “I was 23, just out of college, and it felt like a college campus,” she says. Other Colonial Village residents say the community, with more than 50 acres of red- brick buildings linked by paths that wind among plentiful trees and landscaped lawns, is “parklike,” “serene” and an “oasis” in Arlington’s busy and increasingly high-rise Rosslyn-Ballston corridor. “The location can’t be beat: It’s closer to downtown than parts of Northwest [Washington], and you can walk to two Metros,” says Bob Somers, 54, a government attorney who has lived there since 1992. “But what makes it so nice is the parklike setting. They would never build like that now.” As it turns out, people have always clamored to live in Colonial Village. The community was built as a rental complex by deve...

Two years ago, developer Mike Harrah joined a bid to purchase the Orange County Register out of bankruptcy. The effort ultimately failed . But the flamboyant local construction magnate with a ZZ Top beard still acquired the Register’s Santa Ana real estate , currently vacant after the publication decamped to Anaheim this spring. With the Register gone, Harrah is now embarking on an ambitious $1-billion plan for the 20- acre Grand Avenue site , proposing to build Orange County ’s tallest buildings, more than 1,000 residences, a 171-room hotel, offices and retail shops. In all, Harrah’s Caribou Industries envisions a 2.3-million-square- foot development known as 625IVE that serves as a gateway to historic downtown Santa Ana , where hip restaurants and shops are opening just a mile away. And he’s signed up prominent architecture firm Gensler to work on it. Harrah, himself, has been credited with helping kick-start the revitalization early last decade after he acquired buildings in t...

There comes a time for most San Diego couples when they get sick of renting and, for the Whites, it came around the 40th birthday mark . Shawna White, 40, spent countless hours researching a place she and her husband Nathan, 39, could afford that wouldn’t break the bank. In addition to getting away from the region’s explosive rent hikes , they saw a home as an investment. Eventually, the Navy couple landed in Otay Ranch on the eastern fringes of the county near the border with Mexico. They bought a new 1,504-square-foot townhouse for $378,000, around $200,000 less than what something similar would have cost them closer to downtown. “We were able to buy something new instead of an older home with issues,” she said. “This was a good buy.” More and more new homeowners are being drawn to Otay Ranch, the largest residential development in San Diego County history at 25,000 acres. After being hit hard in the housing crisis , it has reemerged as a viable option for homeownership in a cou...

Torrential rains caused historic flooding in the Kansas City area Tuesday , leaving one man dead in Kansas and others stranded for hours by high water. Water rescues and evacuations kept police and firefighters busy with hundreds of calls after as much as 9 inches of rain fell starting Monday night . Flooding made many roads impassable, trapping people at homes and businesses along the Blue River and Indian Creek, which set a new record of 28.22 feet overnight and topped its banks after record flooding last month. Water spilling out of Indian Creek inundated bridges , businesses, apartments and houses. For just the second time ever, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency alert for the entire Kansas City area . The first time was last August. Johnson County declared a state of local disaster, and an American Red Cross shelter in south Kansas City took in nearly 20 people by Tuesday afternoon , when flood waters started to recede. Early Tuesday in Miami Coun...

Torrential rains caused historic flooding in the Kansas City area Tuesday , leaving one man dead in Kansas and others stranded for hours by high water. Water rescues and evacuations kept police and firefighters busy with hundreds of calls after as much as 9 inches of rain fell starting Monday night . Flooding made many roads impassable, trapping people at homes and businesses along the Blue River and Indian Creek, which set a new record of 28.22 feet overnight and topped its banks after record flooding last month. Water spilling out of Indian Creek inundated bridges , businesses, apartments and houses. For just the second time ever, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency alert for the entire Kansas City area . The first time was last August. Johnson County declared a state of local disaster, and an American Red Cross shelter in south Kansas City took in nearly 20 people by Tuesday afternoon , when flood waters started to recede. Early Tuesday in Miami Coun...

(TNS) - Torrential rains fell overnight causing historic flooding in south Kansas City , Mo., and leading to water rescues and evacuations. As many as 9 inches of rain fell since Monday. Early Tuesday firefighters rescued a woman stranded in a tree at 103rd Street and Wornall Road when Indian Creek flooded the area. That creek, which saw record flooding last month, set a new record of 28. 22 feet overnight . A family of seven were trapped on top of their roof after rushing floodwaters surrounded their home at 155th Street and Kenneth Road. The Overland Park Fire Department have been in contact via phone with the family of three adults and four children and their pets. Because they are not in immediate danger and the water levels around them are receding, crews will allow those water levels to drop to safer levels before evacuating the family. Firefighters said the family is calm. Floodwaters were out of the banks of Indian Creek and over bridges as businesses, apartments and home...